DHS passes financial audit for first time

Dec. 13, 2013 - 06:00AM
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Deputy Secretary Rafael Borras announced that the Department of Homeland Security has gotten its first clean financial audit. (Staff)

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The Department of Homeland Security has gotten its first clean financial audit, acting Deputy Secretary Rafael Borras announced Thursday.

The clean audit opinion, which comes a decade after the department was created out of 22 different agencies, “is in line with our ultimate goal to increase transparency and accountability for the taxpayer resources entrusted” to DHS, Borras wrote on an official blog.

The review of the department’s fiscal 2013 financial statements was conducted by KPMG and released by the department’s inspector general. The passing grade leaves the Defense Department as the only major federal agency unable to pass an audit.

To get the clean opinion, the last step needed was a department-wide inventory that turned up an additional $8 billion in property, Borras wrote. The overall effort to clean up the department’s books has also resolved complex financial management issues and strengthened business practices, he said.

The news is a “milestone,” Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a release. Given the department’s size and the scope of its mission, Carper said, “producing a clean financial audit is no small task.”

“I credit the department’s past and current leadership for making financial management a priority and taking the steps necessary to reach this important goal.”